The International Committee of the Red Cross has re-levelled around 250 hectares of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip and assisted farmers with ploughing and sowing wheat in the northern border area.

After years of restricted access, hundreds of Palestinian farmers in Gaza were able to tend to their lands, up to 100 metres from the border fence.

"My land where I am working now was too dangerous because when I was seen by the Israeli forces cultivating it, they always began to shoot at me," farmer Abuatef Wahdan told Al Jazeera. "Now, I am happy to rebuild my livelihood."

Another farmer, Ismail al-Kfarna, told Al Jazeera that the assistance from the Red Cross would help to improve his family's economic situation: "I am very thankful and grateful for the ICRC, which helped me in rehabilitating and ploughing my land and providing me with the wheat seeds," he said. "I was not able to reach my land in war and peace times because of Israeli threats, but now I am in my land and working freely."

An aid programme has allowed the farmers to access lands 100 metres from the border fence in Beit Hanoun. [Wissam Nassar/Al Jazeera]

Mamadou Sow, the head of the Gaza sub-delegation with the International Committee of the Red Cross, carries a sheep while visiting Palestinian farmers in Beit Hanoun. [Wissam Nassar/Al Jazeera]

Farming in Gaza can be a difficult prospect due to land access issues near the Israeli border. [Wissam Nassar/Al Jazeera]